Weapons
For weapons in general see Lehmann (H.), Über die Waffen im angelsächsischen Beowulfliede, in Germania, XXXI, 486-97; Keller (May L.), The Anglo-Saxon weapon names treated archæologically and etymologically, Heidelberg, 1906 (Anglistische Forschungen, XV: cf. Holthausen, Anglia, Beiblatt, XVIII, 65-9, Binz, Litteraturblatt, XXXI, 98-100); ‡Wagner (R.), Die Angriffswaffen der Angelsächsischen, Diss., Königsberg; and especially Falk (H.), Altnordische Waffenkunde, in Videnskapsselskapets Skrifter, Hist.-Filos. Klasse, 1914, Kristiania.
The Sword. The sword of the Anglo-Saxon pagan period (from the fifth to the seventh century) "is deficient in quality as a blade, and also ... in the character of its hilt[[763]]." In this it contrasts with the sword found in the peat-bogs of Schleswig from an earlier period: "these swords of the Schleswig moss-finds are much better weapons[[764]]," as well as with the later Viking sword of the ninth or tenth century, which "is a remarkably effective and well-considered implement[[765]]." It has been suggested that both the earlier Schleswig swords and the later Viking swords (which bear a considerable likeness to each other, as against the inferior Anglo-Saxon sword) are the product of intercourse with Romanized peoples[[766]], whilst the typical Anglo-Saxon sword "may represent an independent Germanic effort at sword making[[767]]." However this may be, it is noteworthy that nowhere in Beowulf do we have any hint of the skill of any sword-smith who is regarded as contemporary. A good sword is always "an old heirloom," "an ancient treasure[[768]]." The sword of Wiglaf, which had belonged to Eanmund, or the sword with which Eofor slays Ongentheow, are
described by the phrase ealdsweord eotenisc, as if they were weapons of which the secret and origin had been lost—indeed the same phrase is applied to the magic sword which Beowulf finds in the hall of Grendel's mother.
The blade of these ancestral swords was sometimes damascened or adorned with wave-like patterns[[769]]. The swords of the Schleswig moss-finds are almost all thus adorned with a variegated surface, as often are the later Viking swords; but those of the Anglo-Saxon graves are not. Is it fanciful to suggest that the reference to damascening is a tradition coming down from the time of the earlier sword as found in the Nydam moss? A few early swords might have been preserved among the invaders as family heirlooms, too precious to be buried with the owner, as the product of the local weapon-smith was.
See, for a full discussion of the sword in Beowulf, Stjerna, Hjälmar och svärd i Beovulf (Studier tillägnade O. Montelius, Stockholm, pp. 99-120 = Essays, transl. Clark Hall, pp. 1-32). The standard treatise on the sword, Den Yngre Jernalders Sværd, Bergen, 1889, by A. L. Lorange, deals mainly with a rather later period.
The Helmet. The helmet found at Benty Grange in Derbyshire in 1848 is now in the Sheffield Museum[[770]]: little remains except the boar-crest, the nose-piece, and the framework of iron ribs radiating from the crown, and fixed to a circle of iron surrounding the brow (perhaps the frēawrāsn of Beowulf, 1451). Mr Bateman, the discoverer, described the helmet as "coated with narrow plates of horn, running in a diagonal direction from the ribs, so as to form a herring-bone pattern; the ends were secured by strips of horn, radiating in like manner as the iron ribs, to which they were riveted at intervals of about an inch and a half: all the rivets had ornamented heads of silver on the outside, and on the front rib is a small cross of the same metal. Upon the top or crown of the helmet, is an elongated oval brass plate, upon which stands the figure of an animal, carved in iron, now much rusted, but still a very good representation of a pig: it has bronze eyes[[771]]." Helmets of very similar construction, but without the boar, have been found on the Continent and in Scandinavia (Vendel, Grave 14, late seventh century). The continental helmets often
stand higher[[772]] than the Benty Grange or Vendel specimens, being sometimes quite conical (cf. the epithet "war-steep," heaðo-stēap, Beowulf). Many of the continental helmets are provided with cheek-protections, and these also appear in the Scandinavian representations of warriors on the Torslunda plates and elsewhere. These side pieces have become detached from the magnificent Vendel helmet, which is often shown in engravings without them[[773]], but they can be seen in the Stockholm Museum[[774]]. If it ever possessed them, the Benty Grange helmet has lost these side pieces. Such cheek-protections are, however, represented, together with the nose-protection, on the head of one of the warriors depicted on the Franks Casket. In the Vendel helms, the nose-pieces were connected under the eyes with the rim of the helmet, so as to form a mask[[774]]; the helmet in Beowulf is frequently spoken of as the battle-mask[[775]].
Both helmet and boar-crest were sometimes gold-adorned[[776]]: the golden boar was a symbol of the god Freyr: some magic protective power is still, in Beowulf[[777]], felt to adhere to these swine-likenesses, as it was in the days of Tacitus[[778]].
In Scandinavia, the Torslunda plates show the helmet with a boar-crest: the Vendel helmet has representations of warriors whose crests have an animal's head tailing off to a mere rim or roll: this may be the walu or wala which keeps watch over the head in Beowulf[[779]]. The helmet was bound fast to the head[[780]]; exactly how, we do not know.